I kept the smile on my face as my friends and I neared our classrooms. We were all in separate classrooms, and it just made me hate class even more. Still, they didn't know that, and I'd rather keep it that way. I received many greeting as I kept walking down the hallway. Many people were sending me waves and smiles, and I replicated their smiles and waves and walked into the classroom and was instantly greeted warmly by everyone in the class. Warmth was radiating off of everything they did to me, and they looked up to me. I was grateful. Honestly, I was.

But did I care? Honestly, I didn't.

Because they wouldn't be smiling and waving at me to the emotionless me, would they? They wouldn't smile or wave at the real me. The real me was a complete stranger to them. They wouldn't like me, they would think I was a freak. Not like I blamed them for it though, they had no chance of knowing me. I guess it was my fault.

I was at my seat near the window, blindly exchanging typical morning greetings with my classmates like "hello", "good morning", "how was your day yesterday", or "did you remember to do your homework" that sort of stuff. But, as usual, my mind was wandering around somewhere else in my unknown mind, not paying the slightest attention to what I was saying or talking about. I liked to think of it as a special talent, thinking about something totally different while talking.

Suddenly, everyone's lively chatter was interrupted when someone yelled, "Warning, warning! The teacher is coming 'round the corner!"

Everyone immediately fell silent, and raced to get back to their seats. Our teacher was a pleasant man, Mr. Jung, but really, you did not want to irritate him. No one dared to, no one tried, no one complained, and we all liked it that way.

Soon, the door slided open and I could hear Mr. Jung's footsteps marching through the door. I didn't look at him, but out the window next to me, gazing at the inviting sunshine shining across the schoolyard. I suddenly felt a sudden urge to run downstairs and bask in the sunlight, but that was slightly unreasonable, wasn't it? Suddenly, I heard another pair of light footsteps that followed Mr. Jung's. I finally tore my gaze away from the window, and turned to see who the new person was.

It was that girl. That one girl who smirked. Not meaning to sound cocky, but my friends and I were considered quite popular at school, and I knew a lot of girls would gladly kill her for just smirking at me. I didn't mind though. Actually, it was quite refreshing. To see anyone not try to look "perfect" before me. To try so hard, too hard just for my "sake". Please. Like I cared about them. I began to study her a bit closer. Unlike most Koreans, she wasn't completely pale. I liked that, because everyone else was too ghost-like with their papery white skin. She looked about 5'5", and she was slender. Her hair was very dark. A very dark shade of chestnut, but I could tell it wasn't black. Her hair cascaded down her back in soft, large waves and reached about halfway down her back. Her light-brown almond-shaped eyes weren't that big, but they weren't small either. I thought her eyes were her best feature. Their color reminded me of rich milk chocolate. I tried to read her eyes, because they say "eyes are the window to the soul", but they were unreadable. Guarded. Impenetrable. Confusing.

The girl, she scanned the classroom for a bit, and I saw her eyes light up in recognization when she spotted me, and she smiled. I turned my gaze away from her eyes, from her, and stared at the window again. I wouldn't have admitted to anyone that I was secretly watching her reflection through the window though. She aroused some of my hidden curiosity. She had different reactions and behaviors than most people, something about her was different. I wanted to see what she would do.

Something flashed in her eyes, something like a determined look, appeared and disappeared from her eyes in a heartbeat, and it was replaced by a bright smile that lit up her entire face. Not many could smile like that. She started to introduce herself--Mr. Jung must have told her to while I was tuning my surroundings out. "Hi, everyone! My name is Lee Dayoung. I promise I won't be a nuisance, and I hope we can all be buddies!" She finished in a cheerful, joking tone. Well, she seemed bubbly. A little bit too bubbly, for my taste, but girls were eyeing her curiously, and guys were smiling at her. So, I guess she made a good impression to the class. Of course, her existence was little concern to me, and I was still staring out the window.

"Welcome Dayoung, I can feel that you will be an amiable addition to our class, certainly not a nuisance," chuckled Mr. Jung. He sweeped the classroom, in search of an empty seat. Dang it, I thought. The seat next to me is empty.

Unsurprisingly, Mr. Jung's gaze landed on the seat right next to me. Shoot, I thought. Please, please, please don't make her sit next to me! I'm not exactly sure why I didn't want to sit next to Dayoung. She didn't seem like the type of person I would be bothered with. Usually, I ignored most people, so I didn't get bothered by anyone in the first place. In fact, Dayoung had seemed quite...refreshing at first, and I had no idea why I was nervous of the idea of her sitting next to me. Something about her seemed off, it seemed slightly weird. I just couldn't place my finger on what.

"Dayoung, you can go sit next to Byun Baekhyun, since that's the only vacant seat we have for now," Mr. Jung told Dayoung. "He's the one that is staring out the window without really paying any attention right now." I suddenly wondered whether I should glance at Mr. Jung when he said that or not, but just decided to keep inside my comfort zone and continue looking out the window. I heard her footsteps near my seat. Coming closer, sounding louder. When she reached my seat, in the last row of the classroom, she plopped down on her seat, put her backpack on the ground and turned to me. No, I silently prayed with all my will. Please just don't talk to me.

My prayer obviously didn't work because she talked to me, "Hi, so you must be Baekhyun. I'm Dayoung, in case you really haven't been paying any attention." She talked to me with twinkling eyes. I reluctantly turned my gaze to her and scrutinized her overly twinkling eyes. Yup, it was awkward. Tremendously awkward. I just eyed her for a few more seconds and turned to the window again without saying anything. Through the window, I could see her expression was slightly hurt, but she quickly regained her twinkling eyes and restarted the conversation I didn't want to respond to. "I see you don't really feel comfortable around me yet. It's fine, I'm used to it," she said a little too loudly, and I could feel a couple of students' gazes on me. I was annoyed that she attracted unwanted attention, but I remained silent, my eyes fixed on the view outside the window now. She couldn't make me talk. Dayoung turned away from me, and started taking notes of the lecture as the teacher went into an explanation about atoms. I let myself take one quick peek at Dayoung, but then I, too, started taking notes of the lecture. Minsa High was competitive, and that was undeniable.

The lecture was boring, but it was tolerable. After 50 minutes of atoms, protons, neutrons, and electrons, and whatnot, the bell signaling the next class rang. Our whole class traveled together from one class to the other, so I knew I had all of my classes with Dayoung. I promised myself to make sure we didn't associate with each other unless circumstances absolutely required us to. I grabbed my notebook and pens in a blazing speed from my desk and speed-walked out of the class and to my next class. Behind me, I could feel my classmates' confused stares and whispers. I overheard a girl whisper, "Why is Baekhyun oppa acting like that? He's always so polite and nice!" I fought the urge to scoff and roll my eyes. Like she knew me, right? But suddenly, people started to agree with the stupid girl and say even worse accusations. "What's wrong with that Dayoung girl then?" Uh-oh, I thought.

I hoped I wouldn't cause Dayoung too much trouble. After all, it wasn't her fault that I felt uncomfortable around her. It was just my odd self. People didn't have the right to accuse her of anything just because I hadn't spoken to her much. Truth be told, I never really talked to any of them before either. I felt guilty. If Dayoung was going to go through a hard time because of me, then, then.... well what would I do? I couldn't bring myself to go back and talk to her though. I felt like a coward once again. Once again, I was too unsure, unsure of what I would say or do, lacking bravery to go back and talk to that girl.

You know what? Whatever. I'm sure she'll be fine. I didn't want pressure on myself. I didn't want myself bothered by her. Call me useless, call me a coward, but I didn't even know her, and I didn't plan on getting to know her either. I took a deep breath and just walked into the next classroom, anticipating another long lecture.

After enduring four more classes after my first one, I was wiped out. The teachers were endless, and they just kept pouring out more and more complicated information one after another. My brain was about to faint from all the work. During my classes and the 3-minute breaks in between classes, I kept ignoring Dayoung, and she seemed to avoid me slightly too. I could see that she was friendly to everyone though, and some girls and boys were warming up to her. The bell signaling lunch finally rang, and audible sighs of relief were heard everywhere around the classroom. My joy was indescribable. Again, I was the first one to leave. As my strange behavior continued, some of my classmates started to act hostile to Dayoung, too, mostly the girls that "adored" me, I'm guessing because of my looks, although I didn't pride myself that much in my own face. I overheard Lee Jihae, a girl from the popular crowd that had been following me around ever since she laid eyes on me, say, "Look, I know it's your first day and everything. You don't seem that bad either. But if you really don't want to be a nuisance to us, don't make Baekhyun oppa mad, okay?" Dayoung seemed a little taken aback, but she quickly regained her smile and replied. It wasn't her normal twinkling smile though, it was a bright smile, but no one could miss the steel-hard and icy glare behind her bright face. Even Jihae, who I judged as "not easily intimidated", especially by newcomers like Dayoung looked like she was caught off-guard. I walked away in disgust before Dayoung could reply, so I missed her reply.  but judging from the surprised look Jihae gave, I decided her reply wasn't the nicest one. I secretly smiled, genuinely, and silently clapped and congratulated Dayoung in my head as I walked to the hallways. My brain was getting flooded with images of Dayoung, and the little scenarios I saw her in. Before long, I found myself running to the school garden, trying to calm myself down. Really, something must be wrong with me. There was not a single reason why I should be so worked up with this girl, and millions of reasons why I shouldn't be. I weaved my way through the narrow grassy path and found the bridge with the stream. After crossing that, I flung myself on the soft grass, landing with a soft thud. I looked up at the blue sky, shielding my eyes from the sun. I let the warmth of the sun overtake me. Although it was autumn now, the sun at noon was still able to melt me down. I sighed in content as I closed my eyes and listened to the soft flow of the stream. I stayed like that for a few minutes, my mind blank, until I felt my stomach grumble. Laughing quietly, I stood up and walked back to the school garden that was deserted right now, and headed towards the cafeteria.

Taking my phone out, I saw I had a missed calls from all five of my friends. Before I could call Suho hyung back, a crowd of screaming girls distracted me. It overwhelmed me, but I put up my "perfect-Baekhyun" facade right on time and smiled and waved at them. That's who Baekhyun was at this school. Charming, polite, nice, smart, and popular. It took me a few minutes longer to arrive at the cafeteria because of the girl, but I still made there with twenty minutes to spare. I saw the table that my friends and I usually sat at, and headed over smiling widely.

Chanyeol was frowning when I was close enough to see his expression. "Ugh, where is my Baekhyun? He's usually here early, all hungry and ready to eat." Kyungsoo saw me, and opened his mouth to try to tell everyone that I arrived, but he was interrupted by Sehun.

"I wanted to ask him about that new girl, Dayoung? All the guys said she is really pretty and nice." Sehun stated matter-of-factly. I suddenly froze in my tracks. Really? Dayoung here, too? That girl seemed to be following me everywhere I went. I suddenly wasn't so hungry anymore. I just wanted to be at a distance from Dayoung.

"Really? All the girls said that she must be a or something. I think Jihae really dislikes her. Funny, because Jihae usually doesn't associate with anyone "below her social status". She's too self-important." Jongin said, rolling his eyes. I had to say, I agreed with Jongin on this one. I looked down at the ground and realized I hadn't moved since Dayoung was mentioned. Kyungsoo seemed engrossed in the conversation about Dayoung and seemed to have forgotten me. Finally, Suho looked up and saw me.

"Why are you just standing there, Baekhyun? We were all waiting for you!" he said, looking slightly confused.

Sehun bounded over towards me shouting, "Baekhyun hyung! Tell us about--" and he was cut off, once again. This time, by a girly scream and a series of annoying clicking noise made by high heels. I closed my eyes and sighed.

Jihae.

I reopened my eyes and turned around, without a single trace of resentment. Jihae was running towards me, and she was dazzling. No, like, literally. She was wearing a sparkly dress, sparkly eye shadow, silver eye liner, tights with fake diamonds on them, completed by glittery high heels. Guys were gaping at her from a distance, but I thought she looked like a human disco ball. And it hurt my eyes, and gave me a headache, like I needed something to be even more stressed about. I struggled to keep up the charming disguise and not push her away and shield my eyes. Why was she wearing something like that in the middle of lunch anyways? She should be in her school uniform. Well, Jihae was weird and spoiled like that. She was the only daughter of the richest CEO of South Korea, who also happened to be my mom's boss. It was indeed a small world. Since my mom had been working for Mr. Lee even before I was born, that meant Jihae and I were....childhood friends. She never grew on me though. People at school matched us up together saying we were the "ideal couple", I couldn't care less about her. However, since her dad was my mom's boss, I was polite to Jihae so it wouldn't hurt my mom.

"Baekhyun oppa, how are you today? Jihae brought her loving oppa cookies!" Jihae cooed in her fake voice. She made her voice higher, thinking that made her more adorable according to other guys. In my opinion, it was like a siren, and it took all my willpower not to plug my ears.

I made sure I showed no sign of my extreme annoyance, and replied, "Thank you, Jihae. I was kind of having a craving for something sweet." I could see from the corner of my eyes that my friends were watching in wonder as they figured out how I masked my dislike so well, since they knew how much Jihae annoyed me. Other girls and guys were green with envy as they watched our little "interaction". Jihae pulled me by the arm towards the table where my friends were seated. They awkwardly shifted aside to make room for me and Jihae. I sat down waving to my friends, and Jihae plopped down right next to me so that our legs were touching. Ew. Anyways, she took out her pink box of cookies with ribbons, double ew, and took out a cookie.

"I'll feed it to you oppa, say ah~" she winked. I resisted the urge to puke, and closed my eyes. I reluctantly did what she said, and the cookie was popped into my mouth with a giggle from Jihae. The cookie itself wasn't that bad, but the pleasant taste was ruined by Jihae who was giggling and earning glares of envy from girls around the cafeteria. She flashed a wide smile at me, and I politely smiled back. For my mom's sake, I thought.

As I chewed, she continued to talk. "Oppa, you know that new girl Dayoung?" I grimaced inwardly, but I continued to smile and nodded. "If she is getting on your nerves, just tell me, and your Jihae will fix your problem, 'cause Jihae will always be there for you." Dayoung doesn't bother me as much as you do Jihae, I thought grimly, but I just grabbed another cookie, popped it in my mouth, and shrugged. "Well, that's all I wanted to tell you Baekhyun oppa, see you in class!" she said in a singsong voice and a wink and flounced off.

As soon as she left, I spit out my cookie, and my friends were staring at me trying to contain their laughter. They failed at last, and burst out laughing, and started imitating Jihae. "Shut up," I muttered. I slammed my hands down on the table and I left briskly. I left the whole cafeteria staring after me as the bell signaling the end of lunch rang. That sort of behavior for me was very unusual, and I slightly regretted my decision for acting so roughly in front of so many people, but just decided to prepare myself for the next class, and Jihae and Dayoung, and ugh. As I sullenly walked to my next class, I saw Dayoung coming from the opposite direction. I realized that she wasn't in the cafeteria like almost everyone else in the school was. She smiled at me, not the cold one she gave Jihae, but a genuine smile, and walked into class wordlessly.

I stared after her for a few seconds, and walked into class too. Students began piling in, and soon the teacher came in and started class. Instead of taking actual notes this time, I studied Dayoung who was sitting a few rows ahead of me. As I studied her face, and her gestures, I noticed her thoughtful pose, and her pretty oval-shaped face. Did I just say pretty? Nope, nope, nope. Inappropriate. I felt myself blush a little. No one noticed what I was doing, and I idly sketched her side view on the paper I was supposed to be taking notes on. After realizing what I was doing, I stuffed the drawing in my backpack, and took out a new piece of paper to take notes on. I was flustered. Hm, that was unusual for me too. It seemed as if I was acting kind of out of character lately.

Hey guys, so I'm back from Mexico and here with an update. It's longer than my other ones I think? It took a longer time.... Anyways, I wish you all a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

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